


Battle Strategy

by red_pandas_and_books



Category: Fablehaven Series - Brandon Mull
Genre: Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-05
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-09-12 06:44:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16868065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_pandas_and_books/pseuds/red_pandas_and_books
Summary: Following the lull of excitement after Zzyzx, Newel, Doren, and Seth have a plan to get some more of Fablehaven's treasure. They just need one more set of hands...





	Battle Strategy

**Author's Note:**

> I originally posted this on my tumblr as a gift to @fairyprincesskendra. This is a good example of a good story idea terribly executed.  
> I live for Seth and Bracken shenanigans. They need more friendship time.

Seth stared at the battle map in front of him on the table, deep in thought. It was going to be risky, but if they timed it right, the giant would be too distracted with the fireworks to notice him sneaking underneath. 

“It’s still too risky!” Doren argued. 

“Nonsense, Seth’s gotten out of worse scrapes before. He’ll be fine!” 

“Yeah sure, it might work, but we need someone for him to hand off the gear too,” Doren pressed. He used a long stick in his hands to point to a spot on the map. “If we had someone hiding here, Seth could pass off--” 

A knock on the door frame drew them out of their council. Seth turned his head from where he was sitting. Bracken was smiling at them, the light from the cabin illuminating his face. It was almost completely dark outside, and the trees from the forest made it even darker. Seth could only make out the shape of the far side of the tennis court because he knew where it was. 

“Hey Bracken, ” Seth looked over at the satyrs, pointedly glancing down at the map, hoping the message would pass. It did. Newel looked excited, but Doren still looked doubtful. Seth peered back at the unicorn. “How long are you staying for? I thought you were supposed to be gone by now?” 

“Ah well, I was just planning on staying the day. I was going to leave, I just wanted to stay and catch up with you though.” He nodded to the satyrs. “Newel. Doren.” 

Seth pondered this. Bracken had already spent the day with Kendra and had already bid everyone goodbye. He looked over at the raft and pole propped against the wall and then back at the crudely drawn map. They’d planned on executing their plan tomorrow night, but if they could get Bracken to help them tonight...

“Actually, could you stay a little longer? We need your help with something...”

 

 

“This is a bad idea!” Bracken hissed at him. Seth ignored the glare his companion was giving him, and instead focused on the barely visible fog giant sitting in front of him, splashing in the water. 

“Oh please, when I met you, you were in prison. That good-boy-unicorn thing isn’t going to work on me.” 

Seth could feel the back of his head burning from the scowl he knew was there. He sighed. “If you really don’t think it’s that good of an idea, why’d you come?” 

“You just now told me your plan!” Seth held up a hand as a bright red flare went off in the distance, piercing through the mist. The giant rumbled and Bracken grumbled as the giant went off to investigate. 

“I should’ve known that if you couldn’t get Warren to join that there was no way I should get involved,” Bracken said under his breath. Seth ignored him again. 

Seth pulled at the raft they’d dragged from the wagon to the edge of the bog. Bracken reluctantly helped and the two gently set it into the water. Bracken kept a watchful eye as Seth took out a spray bottle from his emergency kit. The older man made a face at the pungent scent as Seth started spraying himself. He’d gotten the bottle from Tanu and it should disguise his scent as potential prey from any giants or other nasties wandering about. 

Seth carefully climbed onto the raft, picking up the pole used to steer it. He’d been practicing not disturbing the water by poling himself around in the pool in the yard at night. He figured that if he woke anyone up then he wouldn’t be ready. Seth had originally wanted to try the naiad pond but figured that would be a bad idea. 

“Wait here,” he whispered and gestured to the tall reeds on the bank of the water. “Stay hidden.” 

He knew Bracken would comply if he’d come this far. It had only been when the satyrs had snuck off from the wagon and Seth had pulled his friend into position that he’d told him what they were doing. He peeked over his shoulder. Bracken nodded grimly and gently pushed the raft out away from shore. 

Staying tucked closely to the bottom, Seth began to push the raft southeast. It wasn’t as smooth as the last time he’d ridden a raft through the bog with Nero, but he should be okay. 

He counted strokes under his breath. He’d almost reached 27 when the raft gently bumped against a small island. Seth smiled to himself, perfect. He almost crooned when he saw the rusted assortment of swords, arrows, and battle gear. 

Seth quietly began to pack as much as he could onto the raft. There was a lot of it and no one would notice if it was gone really. Besides, Seth had gone over the maps plenty of times, and because this was technically stolen goods from a previous fog giant and no giant technically had claim over this spot, they shouldn’t get in trouble for taking some. 

Not that a fog giant would care if they found him. 

Pole in the water, he steered himself back to where Bracken was, constantly looking at his compass to make sure he was going in the right direction. He was almost on top of of the unicorn before he saw his silvery hair. Bracken helped him quietly unload the stuff onto the ground. 

When they were finished, Bracken whispered, “C’mon let’s go!”

Seth shook his head. “There’s still more to get. You take that stuff back to the wagon. I’m going back.” 

Bracken looked ready to protest, but Seth was already pulling away. 

On the second return, Seth wasn’t quite so lucky. He was pulling away with another stash when he heard the approaching giant. He actually held his breath and tried not freak out. He was so close! 

He could barely see the giant, but could they would cross paths if he stayed where he was. He quietly put his pole back in the water and shoved against the ground, willing his hands not to shake. He really wished he’s brought a blanket or something so that his new trinkets wouldn’t make so much noise as they were jostled. 

Seth made it to the bank, but there was no sign of the opening where Bracken was. He looked down and saw the needle of his compass pointing almost directly north. He could have screamed. The giant was nearly on top of him and he was still several meters away from where he needed to be! 

He pushed the pole forward almost desperately. He prayed that somehow his shade walking abilities could be transferred to the whole raft. 

The reeds cleared for a second. Seth thrust out his hand and one grabbed it. Bracken pulled him and the raft almost on the bank as the giant finally reached them. All Seth could do was stare at Bracken with wide eyes as the unicorn stared right back. They stood as still as they could as the giant trudged through the water. His footsteps pushed small waves onto the sand, and Seth absentmindedly noticed that his earlier load was gone. 

The sloshing of steps was almost gone as Seth hopped off and helped Bracken pull the raft onto the shore. They made eye contact and Seth knew they were in agreement: Seth was not going back to get more. 

Seth gathered the treasure and Bracken pulled the small raft behind him. They walked a couple minutes back to where they’d left the wagon. Normally, Seth would have enlisted the help of Hugo for transportation, but it wasn’t too heavy to pull himself. Plus, Hugo had refused. Seth quietly put the rusted gear onto the other gear, and they pulled the raft on top of it all. Seth looked around for the pole and groaned softly when he realized they’d left it. 

“Do you think you can pull the cart by yourself? Even jogging?” he whispered to Bracken. 

Bracken snorted. “Of course.” 

Seth nodded assent. “I’m going to go get the pole. Start pushing the cart down the path. Jog or run if you can. When you reach the first fork, take a right down the way we came, but then take a left for the next three forks. The next fork will be a right. I should catch up way before then, but if not, drop the wagon off behind the garage when you reach the old manor.” 

Bracken looked ready to protest, but Seth was gone again, racing back to get the pole. He felt a little bad about the way he’d been dragging him along, and he’d probably get a full-blown lecture later, the kind Kendra would be proud of. 

He pushed through the reeds, slowing as he reached closer to the bog. He glanced at his watch, grateful that it glowed in the dark. It had been almost 25 minutes since they’d arrived at the bank. 

The pole was barely visible, half of it in the water, but the light reflecting off the water helped Seth make out the shape. He grabbed it hastily, and it slipped out of his hands. Half of it clattered to the ground and the other half slapped the water. 

A loud bellow sounded, followed by splashing feet. Seth grabbed the pole from the ground and ran. He raced through the simple path to the main path Bracken was now on. He heard a large foot crash onto solid land as the giant who’d heard him started chasing him. He made it to the path and almost breathed easier, but remembered that the fog giant probably would chase after him. And since he’d been on their territory and they knew it, they could. 

His feet hit the packed trail and he ran faster. If he could lose the fog giant, it would give up. He remembered that from his first lesson ages ago from Coulter. The fog giant was more territorial than anything. If he could lose it, it would just go back to it’s home. 

‘It would take 32 minutes walking to get to the old manor,’ he thought as he ran. He peeked at his watch. ‘Bracken already has a 6 minute head start on me and he’s jogging. It’ll probably take me another 4 or 5 minutes to catch up with him.’ 

Seth took a right down the fork in the road. He could just barely hear the fog giant behind him, but the giant would also be expecting him to come this way. This was the way to both houses. 

A left at the next fork. Still no sign of Bracken-- wait there he was! Seth surged forward. He was really regretting not running every morning like Kendra did; it would have paid off right about now. Bracken slowed to a walk and turned as he heard Seth approach. He waved and opened his mouth before a giant roared. 

Bracken’s eyes widened. Seth threw the pole in the cart and threw himself at the bar at the front of the wagon next to Bracken. The unicorn moved over, startled, but started pushing with Seth. They started jogging, the contents of the wagon shifting as their feet pounded. 

“What did you do?” Bracken asked breathily as they took another right. 

“I may have dropped the pole.” 

“Well, we’d better get back then.” 

They ran as fast as they dared without their load making too much noise. They couldn’t hear the giant behind them at all, but they kept running and pulling. It was really awkward running and pulling. Seth wondered how Bracken had been doing it all by himself. The yard appeared before them with the back of the old manor rising up before them, and suddenly they were running on grass. They didn’t stop until they had reached the house. 

Seth was gasping for air as they reached the carriage house. They wearily pulled the wagon in after Seth opened the door. Bracken pushed it to the back of the room as Seth searched for a tarp to throw over it. He would deal with the contents later. 

The two trudged outside. It was fully dark now, and not a single light was on in the old house. Grandma and Grandpa Larsen had long gone to bed Seth confirmed by a look at his watch. 

Seth all but threw himself down on the lawn. The adrenaline was wearing off, leaving him exhausted. Bracken slowly lowered himself down next to him. Both of them breathed heavily, gazing up at the clouds. They looked over at each other, then burst out laughing. Seth clutched at his stomach, rolling about. The laughter subsided until they made eye contact again and the laughing started up again. 

Bracken was the first one to regain his composure, sitting up. Seth joined him, smiling contentedly. 

“Shouldn’t we check on the satyrs?” 

“Nah,” Seth waved out the question. “They’ll be fine. The real danger of the mission was our part of it. They were gone before we were.”

Bracken nodded in understanding. A comfortable silence settled over them. Several fairies drifted over to them, drifting over by Bracken. The fairies knew that talking to him wouldn’t yield much fruit, but they still liked to be near by. They watched them as they showed off a bit. 

“You should probably get back. You were supposed to be gone by now.” Seth smiled sheepishly at him. “Sorry for dragging you into our scheme.” 

“At least I wasn’t chased by a fog giant,” Bracken teased. He shook his head self-deprecatingly. “Maybe prison did change me; I should be giving you a lecture right now!” 

Seth just laughed. He was so tired it was like nothing mattered anymore. “Yeah, you’ve got to make Kendra proud.” 

Bracken laughed too. “Just don’t do anything like that again. I don’t even know why we did all of that just for some rusted junk. I could have got you better stuff.” 

“Eh, it was exciting though.” Seth shrugged. It was fun planning stuff like this. He was so bored after Zzyzx. Nothing exciting had happened. Plus it was good practice to plan out strategies like this in case something ever happened. 

“It was dangerous though,” Bracken added. “Unnecessarily dangerous. Next time you want to drag me along for something, let me know what it is first so I can tell you that beforehand!” 

Seth raised an eyebrow with a mischievous smile. “So there’s going to be a next time?” 

Bracken smiled back and stood. “If you want me to tag along again, I’d be honored. I better get going though. As interesting as this was, I’m ready to go home.” 

Seth’s smile turned more genuine. He nodded and stood as well. “Thank you.” 

“Sure thing, Seth.”


End file.
